Sam Fender has given the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound honor prize money to the MVT, which works to protect the UK's grassroots concert spaces.
Fender was presented with the prize on mid-October as his new release the album was chosen as the best record of the last 12 months.
Fender has opted to give the cash to the MVT, in recognition of the crucial part grassroots venues fulfilled in his initial steps.
"I personally would not have achieved what I am doing today if it weren't for all the gigs I did around the area, and further afield, when I was starting out," remarked the artist. "These spaces are legendary, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these spaces have shut down – approximately one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, well-known musicians like the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a small levy to their ticket prices, which benefits smaller concert halls.
He also participated, raising more than £100,000 on his live tour to assist 38 small stages across Britain.
The donation supported venues that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues arising from water damage, blazes and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces received funding support in improving infrastructure and technical equipment that helped artists and fans.
"The notion that funds from performances in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just logical," Fender has commented.
He is not the first artist to contribute his Mercury Prize winnings to good deeds.
In Pulp earned the prize in 1996 for their album Different Class, vocalist Cocker stated that the act would contribute their prize money to the organization War Child.
That year, musician she shared her award across a few good causes, such as the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I contributed a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they needed updated gear," she shared with a publication.
In recent years, they gave their prize money to the community center that developed their group, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
And the 1994 recipients M People contributed their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was found to have the disease.
"Winning was sufficient," remarked singer Heather Small. "The cash was the bonus but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning touched the lives of others."
Last week, the trust shared it had rescued a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by placing them under local control.
One venue in that area and the second in that location were purchased under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by a national body and enthusiasts who purchase "shares" in the properties.
